


New century, New Rules

by highlytrainedfangirl



Series: Queer Avengers [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: CLINT BARTON IS ACTUALLY DEAF FOR ONCE, Gay Rights, Implied homophobia, M/M, Past/Referenced Stucky, but he's just super overwhelmed, i dont know what to tag for this, the other avengers think Steve is homophobic, use of the word queer bc thats what steve grew up identifying as
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 23:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13774965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highlytrainedfangirl/pseuds/highlytrainedfangirl
Summary: SHIELD had done their best to prepare Steve for the new century that he had awoken in. However, they didn’t quite cover everything.He was prepared for the insane technology and rapid movement of the city. He was prepared for his new status as both a historical figure and a celebrity (well, he had been braced, he didn’t think he would ever become used to it). He was prepared for a whole new way of life.What he was not prepared for, was queer couples. Out in the street. In broad daylight. Very obviously acting like couples.Podfic by MidnightMew





	New century, New Rules

SHIELD had done their best to prepare Steve for the new century that he had awoken in. However, they didn’t quite cover everything.  
He was prepared for the insane technology and rapid movement of the city. He was prepared for his new status as both a historical figure and a celebrity (well, he had been braced, he didn’t think he would ever become used to it). He was prepared for a whole new way of life.  
What he was not prepared for, was queer couples. Out in the street. In broad daylight. Very obviously acting like couples. 

It first happened only a few weeks after the Incident with the Chitauri. Steve was strolling around the streets of New York, trying to clear his head. The glasses and baseball cap he hid behind made him feel even more conspicuous, but he wasn’t ready to be captain America again. Not just yet. He needed time to get his head on straight; he still wasn’t adjusted to his new life and an alien invasion weeks after he had woken didn’t allow for much time to settle in.  
So, he hid behind flimsy pieces of fabric and strolled the streets praying that no one would recognise their newly-discovered national hero.  
He avoided the areas that had been worst hit by the invasion. The guilt of doing so clawed at his chest, but the pain of facing the destruction he had caused was too much to even contemplate. At the time of the battle he had been proud, victorious, and painfully oblivious to the lives he tore to shreds while trying to save them.  
So, he hides, not only his face, but the pain he created, and sticks to the busier streets, the ones that survived. It was amazing – admirable really – to see how the city picked itself up and kept moving. There were protests against the Avengers, and the News revelled in horror story after horror story, but the everyday civilians resumed their lives as if nothing had happened.  
Steve quietly found a bench to sit on and merely watched the city live.  
Parents dragged sulking toddlers behind them, shoppers struggled beneath mountains of bags as they staggered down the street, couples walked entwined with each other, oblivious to the rest of the world.  
It was that last group that caught Steve’s eye because, in amongst the young girls clutching the hands of their boyfriends, and elderly couples who strolled arm-in-arm, he spotted two men with their arms wrapped around each other. One had his arm slung around the other’s shoulder, while the other clutched to his boyfriend’s waist. And there was no doubt in Steve’s mind looking at them that they were a couple. He could see it on the way that they stood and their shared smiles.  
He couldn’t understand. They were walking like that in broad daylight, on a crowded street, where anyone could see them, and yet they didn’t look panicked at all. They were happy. And no one cared. No one was looking, or staring, or pointing.  
It was normal, Steve realised with a start. This was normal.  
He had to fight not to stare, but how could he not? How many nights had he and Bucky lain awake in each other’s arms wishing for a world where they could live together openly? How many hours had been wasted to dreams for a life neither could ever hope to see?  
But Steve was there. Somehow, he had woken from a seemingly-short sleep to a world the dream was a reality.  
And Bucky wasn’t there to live it with him.

 

The second major moment of realisation came late in the evening at Stark tower. He wandered through the shared living space in search of a jacket he had left there earlier in the day, not really paying attention to what was happening in the rest of the room. Steve vaguely registered several other Avengers watching a TV show in the background. While he wasn’t paying attention to what was happening, he did vaguely recognise the voices coming from the screen and was fairly sure it was a show Natasha had roped the team into watching a few episodes of previously.  
Finding the lost garment draped over the back of an armchair, he turned to face where the others were sitting and froze. There, on the screen, were the two female characters that he vaguely remembered from before, and they were kissing. The subtitles Clint used still displayed their confessions of love.  
He didn’t know how to react. He slunk from the room hoping none of the others had noticed him enter.  
Once he was safely back on his own floor he sank to the bed with his head in his hands. It had been one thing to see a couple out in public. He knew at least people were prepared to turn a blind eye, that was all he had thought it had been. People were just wilfully ignorant of what went on – not dissimilar to his own day, except the boundaries were being pushed a little farther.  
But he had been wrong; it was on television. It was allowed. People weren’t juts ignoring it, they were accepting it, showing it, celebrating it. Queer couples were acknowledged. 

 

Steve was dreaming. There was no other solution. How could the world have moved so far in only around 70 years?  
He was once again standing, surrounded by other Avengers, in the shared living area, mindlessly munching on toast while the News played on the TV across the room. He had only been awake around eight months and while he still felt lost, the familiarity of the other Avengers was slowly helping him to settle in.  
Steve wasn’t really listening to what the News anchor was saying; he was too lost staring out at the view of the city sprawling beneath him, watching pedestrians and traffic wrestle for control of their city. He was zoned out, lost in his own head.  
So, he was caught off guard by the voice drifting through the room that announced, “Yesterday, Washington State voted to legalise same-sex marriage…”  
The rest of her words were lost to the rushing in Steve’s ears. It had to be wrong. He had to be misunderstanding something. She couldn’t be saying what he thought she was.  
The whooping of Tony brought him back don to Earth and he watched as the other Avengers exchanged happy, even celebratory, words.  
This was happening.  
Queer couples could marry.  
The second Steve spoke, the celebrations froze, “is, is that really allowed, now?” he was fighting to keep his voice from trembling.  
The mood in the room dropped as Natasha, Tony, and Bruce all turned to look at him. No one answered, so he repeated the question, hoping he sounded a little stronger this time, “is that really allowed?” He nodded towards the TV.  
Natasha was the fist to respond, “yes it’s- yes it’s legal. It is in quite a few states,” her voice wrung with concern, “Steve, has no one told you anything about,” she didn’t seem to quite know how to phrase it, “anything like this?”  
Natasha destabilised was enough o throw anyone off, but Steve could understand. If what she was saying was true, and queer coupes could marry in several states, how had he not heard about it until now?  
She saw him slipping back into his own mind and tried to draw him back out, “this didn’t come up anywhere in all the rehabilitation stuff they had you read?”  
He shook his head, mouth opening and closing like a fish, eyes still caught on the screen that displayed a crowd of rainbow flags. “It never came up,” he finally managed. “They told me stuff on world history and a bit on politics, but they didn’t really cover any social stuff.” SHIELD had given him a document that vaguely referenced the civil rights movement, but he had to do all the further research on that himself, and he only knew to look for it because of that document. He hadn’t heard so much as a whisper about queer rights.  
“Just, um, just give me a minute.” He needed to know. He needed to understand. How much had he missed?  
He didn’t give any of the others a chance to respond before he fled the room in search of answers. 

The mood in the living area remained tense, even after Steve left. No one quite knew what to say.  
Seeming to finally sense the tension in the room, Clint turned around from the TV just in time to see the figure of Steve disappear down the corridor. He glanced down at the hearing aid he had removed earlier, lying on the table, and wondered just how much he had missed.  
Looking around, Nat and Tony were staring at each other, a silent conversation passing between frowning faces, while Bruce looked as if he was trying to disappear into the wall beside him.  
Clint locked eyes with Tony, shooting a questioning look, but all he got I return was a flick of Tony’s eyes towards the TV, which had now switched to a new story, and the empty corridor which Steve just fled down.  
It took a second for the penny to drop. 1940s. Gay marriage.  
That explained the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room. When the two at the centre of the room stopped glaring and started talking, Clint did his best to follow along with their lip movements.  
Tony spoke first, “y’know, I expected more from Cap.”  
“You don’t know he’s going to react badly.”  
Tony spluttered a silent, sardonic laugh, “and what would you call that?” he flung his arm in the direction of the corridor.  
“Of course, it’s a shock, especially if no one’s told him anything. Give him time to adjust,” Natasha tried to defend Steve, but she wasn’t sure if she believed it, or if she just wanted to. After all, they had all accepted Steve as one of them, it was easy to forget that he grew up in a completely different world to theirs.  
Tony seemed to back down, but there was still distrust and anger lurking in his eyes. 

Meanwhile, Steve was huddled on the centre of his bed, laptop almost glued to his face as he tried not to cry from both sadness and pride, as he finally discovered the queer history he had missed. For maybe the fist time, he felt lucky to have been discovered when he was. If only Bucky could see it too.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoping to make this a series and i have quite a few ideas of where this is going. Hope you liked it! honetsly this series was just me going 'there really arent enough fics about steve reacting to LGBT rights'.
> 
> If anyone has any suggestions for a better series title that 'Queer Avengers' it would really be appreciated, puns are more than welcome.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [New Century, New Rules [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14826786) by [MidnightMew](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightMew/pseuds/MidnightMew)




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